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5 Home Security Mistakes You’re Making

Cammy Team

March 25, 2015

You probably think you’re doing all the right things to protect your home when you’re not there, but truth is you’re most likely making some fundamental security mistakes.

Securing your home means more than just locking the doors when you leave home. Burglars like an easy target and they look for tell-tale signs that your home is open for business. Are you making these five mistakes?

1. Failing to hide the evidence of expensive purchases in your trash

One mistake people make is carelessly throwing away boxes and packaging from expensive purchases.

Did you recently get a new 60” flat screen television? If you put the box outside by your trash bin, any potential burglars prowling your neighbourhood know about it too.

Evidence that you have expensive items is a signal to a burglar that your home is a valuable target.

Try breaking large and expensive-item boxes down before throwing them away. Fit them into your bin or wait until trash day before throwing large items out.

2. Failing to make your home look like it’s occupied

Burglars love a home that is unoccupied, so it pays to make your house appear like someone is home.

We’re not saying you need to do what Macaulay Culkin did in Home Alone and use charades in the windows. It’s the little things that count, like maintaining the appearance of your home.

If you’re going away on holidays, mow the lawn before you go, pause your newspaper delivery service and have a neighbour collect your mail. If you going out at night, you can leave a light on. If you’re concerned about wasting electricity consider installing outdoor sensor lights.

Sometimes burglars will knock on the door to check if someone is home.

3. Failing to put adequate lighting around your home’s exterior

Unless burglars have a key to your house, breaking in requires picking a lock or using brute force. This can take a few minutes and burglars don’t want an audience watching on.

This is why having adequate lighting around your house is good. Lighting exposes burglars to neighbours and passers by.

By installing adequate outdoor lighting, including powerful motion sensing lights, you can make sure that your home’s exterior is bright enough to scare off would-be burglars looking for an easy target.

4. Failing to secure first floor entrances

If you’re going to be serious about home security, you need to consider your entire home.

Homeowners are good at securing their first floor, installing heavy-duty locks and setting up cameras aimed at every entrance, but often fail to think about upper-level windows and sliders.

Despite 88% of burglars entering through first floor entrances, leaving that upstairs window open and viewable from the street is not worth the risk.

Also, avoid leaving ladders lying around outside or anything else that may help a burglar climb up.